Audio Amplifiers Utilizing: SPiKe Protection

National Semiconductor
Audio Amplifiers Utilizing: Application Note 898
John DeCelles
SPiKe™ Protection August 1993

Introduction mechanism within a monolithic power package. Since audio

amplifier designers generally need to provide some sort of
As technology develops, integrated circuits continue to pro- protection to the output transistors in order to keep product
vide an advantage to consumers requiring products with failures to a minimum, National Semiconductor’s Audio
more functionality and reliability for their money. It’s been Group has designed SPiKe (Self Peak Instantaneous Tem-
less than fifty years since the first transistor began to provide perature (˚Ke)) Protection. This is a protection mechanism
audio amplification to consumers. Technology changed, designed to safeguard the amplifier’s output from overvolt-
bringing to the market higher power discretes and hybrids ages, undervoltages, shorts to ground or to the supplies,
with the later development of lower powered monolithics. thermal runaway, and instantaneous temperature peaks.
Today with the development of IC technologies,
The following pages will explain in detail each of the protec-
high-performance monolithic audio amplifiers arrive, allow-
tions provided by SPiKe protected audio amplifiers, the ad-
ing consumers to experience high-power, high-fidelity audio
vantages they bring to audio designers, and why they are
systems in compact packages.
necessary.
The Overture™ Audio Power Amplifier Series possesses a
Each of the protection sections on the following pages will
unique protection system that saves audio amplifier design-
refer to Figure 1. (Amplifier Equivalent Schematic with Sim-
ers components, size, and cost of their systems. This trans-
plified SPiKe Protection Circuitry) when its functionality is
lates into higher-power, more functional, more reliable, com-
described.
pact audio amplification systems.
These advantages, generally provided only in high-end dis-
crete amplifiers, are accomplished by providing a protection

01186901

FIGURE 1. Amplifier Equivalent Schematic with Simplified SPiKe Protection Circuitry

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Overture™ and SPiKe™ are trademarks of National Semiconductor Corporation.

© 2002 National Semiconductor Corporation AN011869 www.national.com

AN-898
Self Peak Instantaneous This protection scheme results in the power capabilities
being dependent upon the case temperature, the transistor
Temperature Limiting (SPiKe) operating voltages, VCE, and the power dissipation versus
SPiKe Protection is a “uniquely-smart” protection mecha- time.
nism that will adjust its output drive capability according to its
output operating conditions, thus safeguarding itself against Safe Operating Area
the most stringent power limiting conditions.
Other power amplifiers on the market provide SOA protec-
tion by calculating external resistances for adjustable current
limiting whose primary function is to keep the amplifier within
its safe operating area. Not only do these amplifiers require
external components, but they aiso have a design conflict
between fault protection and maximum output current drive
capability. In order to keep the device from self-destructing
against output shorts to either supply rail, the adjustable
current limit must be significantly lowered, thus limiting the
device’s current drive capability.
SPiKe protected audio amplifiers provide extensive fault pro-
tection without sacrificing output current drive capability. Its
circuitry functions by sensing the output transistor’s tem-
perature, enabling itself when the temperature reaches ap- 01186920

proximately 250˚C. Depending upon the amplifier’s present

operating conditions, the device will reduce the output drive FIGURE 2. TC = 25˚C
transistor’s base current, as shown in Figure 1, keeping the
transistor within its safe operating area.
The uniqueness of SPiKe protected audio amplifiers is its Safe Operating Area
abillty to monitor the output drive transistor’s safe operating
area dynamically, regardless of an output to ground short, an
output to supply short, or the reaching of its power limit by
any pulse within the audio spectrum.
As can be seen from Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4, the
safe operating area is reduced for all pulse widths as the
case temperature increases. This indicates that good heat-
sinking is required for optimal operation of the power ampli-
fier. Figure 5, Figure 6 and Figure 7 illustrate the reduction of
the safe operating area by the increasing effect of enabling
SPiKe Protection on a 100 Hz sine wave due to increasing
case temperatures.
As seen in the Current Limiting section, a short to ground
with an input pulse applied to the amplifier will be current
01186921
limited by the conventional current limiting circuitry for a few
hundred microseconds. When the junction temperature
reaches its limit, SPiKe protection takes over, limiting the FIGURE 3. TC = 75˚C
output current further, as the junction temperature tries to
rise above 250˚C.

Safe Operating Area

01186922

FIGURE 4. TC = 125˚C

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 AN-898
Self Peak Instantaneous may help a designer to determine the maximum amount of
power that SPiKe protected amplifiers may deliver into dif-
Temperature Limiting (SPiKe) ferent loads before enabling SPiKe protection.
(Continued) Figure 8 shows the peak power dissipation capabilities of the
output drive transistor at increasing case temperatures for
various output pulse widths.
SPiKe Protection Response Figure 9 shows the power required to activate SPiKe cir-
cuitry at increasing case temperatures over the operating
voltage range.
Again, it is evident that good heatsinking and ventilation
within the system are important to the design in order to
achieve maximum output power from the amplifier.
SPiKe protected amplifiers provide the capability of regulat-
ing temperature peaks that may be caused by reaching the
power limit of the safe operating area. The reaching of power
limits may result from increased case temperatures while
heavily driving a load or by conventional current limiting,
resulting from the output being shorted to ground or to the
01186923
supplies.

FIGURE 5. TC = 75˚C
Pulse Power Limit

SPiKe Protection Response

01186924

01186926
FIGURE 6. TC = 80˚C
FIGURE 8. Pulse Power Dissipation vs Pulse Width

SPiKe Protection Response

Pulse Power Limit

01186925

FIGURE 7. TC = 85˚C

Figure 8 and Figure 9 are provided for each SPiKe Protected

audio power amplifier and should be used to determine the 01186927

power transistor’s peak dissipation capabilities and the

power required to activate the power limit. This information FIGURE 9. Pulse Power Dissipation vs VCE

3 www.national.com
AN-898 Overvoltage—Output Voltage
Clamping
One of the most important protection schemes of an audio
amplifier is the protection of the output drive transistors
against large voltage flyback spikes. These spikes are cre-
ated by the sudden attempt to change the current flow in an
inductive load, such as a speaker. When a push-pull ampli-
fier goes into power limit (i.e., reaching the SOA limit) while
driving an inductive load, the current present in the inductor
drives the output beyond the supplies. This large voltage
spike may exceed the breakdown voltage rating of a typical
audio amplifier and destroy the output drive transistor. In
general, the amplifier should not be stressed beyond its
01186902
Absolute Maximum (No Signal) Voltage Supply Rating and
should be protected against any condition that may lead to
this type of voltage stress level. This type of protection FIGURE 10. Positive Output
generally requires the use of costly zener or fast recovery Voltage Clamping Waveform
Schottky diodes from the output of the device to each supply
rail.
However, SPiKe protected audio amplifiers possess a
unique overvoltage protection scheme that allows the device
to sustain overvoltages for nominally rated speaker loads.
Referring to Figure 1, the protection mechanism functions by
first sensing that the output has exceeded the supply rail,
then immediately turns the driving output transistor off so
that its breakdown voltage is not exceeded. The circuitry
continues to monitor the output, waiting to turn the output
drive transistor back on when the overvoltage fault has
ceased.
While monitoring the output, the IC also provides SPiKe
protection if needed. Finally, SPiKe protected audio amplifi-
ers possess an internal supply-clamping mechanism; a ze-
01186904
ner plus a diode drop from the output to the positive supply
rail and an intrinsic diode drop from the output to the nega-
tive rail. This equates to clamping of approximately 8V on the FIGURE 11. Negative Output
positive rail and 0.8V on the negative rail as can be seen in Voltage Clamping Waveform
Figure 10 and Figure 11, respectively.
Figure 12 and Figure 13 model the output stage for each
overvoltage condition exemplifying how the voltage wave-
forms are clamped to their respective values for high fre-
quency waveforms. As shown in the Self Peak Instanta-
neous Temperature Limiting (SPiKe) section, Figure 2,
Figure 3 and Figure 4, the safe operating area for lower
frequency waveforms is much smaller than for higher fre-
quency waveforms. Therefore, the power limits of low fre-
quency waveforms may be reached much more easily than
for high frequency waveforms. It is due to this fact that more
extreme and more frequent overvoltages may occur at lower
frequencies, as shown in Figure 14, Figure 15, Figure 16 and
Figure 17. The peak output voltage spikes may increase
beyond the described clamping values due to extreme
power conditions, however, the waveforms will decrease to
the clamping values with the discharge of the output inductor
current, as shown in Figure 14.

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Overvoltage—Output Voltage
Clamping (Continued)
01186903
FIGURE 12. Output Stage
Overvoltage Model (VCC)
01186905
FIGURE 13. Output Stage
Overvoltage Model (−VEE)
The lower output stage has the advantage of an intrinsic
diode from the negative rail to the output which can replace
the usual external clamping diode in an audio amplifier. This
intrinsic diode is an advantage of the monolithic IC, capable
of handling the large current flowing through the load at the
time of the power limit.
The system is not protected against all reactive loads since
these clamping diodes will dissipate large amounts of power
that cannot be controlled by the peak temperature limiting
circuitry if the fault is sustained for a long period of time. It
should also be noted that for purely reactive loads, all of the
power is dissipated in the amplifier and none in the load. This
implies that if the load is more reactive than resistive, at
those frequencies, more power will be dissipated in the
amplifier than delivered to the speaker. Since the impedance
characteristics of a speaker change over frequency, it is very
important to know what types of loads the amplifier can and
cannot drive in order to not only match the amplifier and
5 www.national.com
AN-898
speaker for optimum performance, but also to protect the
amplifier from trying to outperform itself. It is the mismatch-
ing of components or low dips in the resistive component of
a complex speaker that can cause an amplifier to go into
power limit. The likelihood of reaching the amplifier’s power
limit is greatly reduced when the minimum impedance that
the amplifier can drive is known.
Figure 14, Figure 15, Figure 16 and Figure 17 are examples
of the LM3876 reaching its power limit, experiencing large
flyback voltages from an inductive load, for various input
signals and loads.
The test conditions for Figure 14, Figure 15, Figure 16 and
Figure 17 are as follows:
• Using an LM3876
• No external compensation components
• VCC = ± 35V
• AvCL = 20
• IO/Div. = 2.0A/div
• ZL = 7.5 mH + 4Ω for Figure 14
• ZL = 7.5 mH + 2Ω for Figure 15, Figure 16 and Figure 17
• f = 100 Hz for Figure 14, Figure 15 and Figure 17
• f = 70 Hz for Figure 16
In Figure 14, the 4.5Vpk input signal applied to the amplifier
with a closed-loop gain of 20, produces the severely clipped
34V output voltage waveform, as shown. The sharp 48.5V
overvoltage spike that occurs at the crossover point is due to
the amplifier output stage reaching the SOA (Safe Operating
Area) limit. For this waveform, the collector-emitter voltage is
quite large, while the output current is also quite large (4A).
Referring to Figure 2, Figure 3 and Figure 4, it is easily
understood that the SOA power limit has been reached.
When the SOA limit is reached, the SPiKe protection circuitry
tries to limit the output current while the inductor tries to
continuously supply the current it has stored. Since the
current in an inductor can’t change instantaneously, the cur-
rent is driven back into the output up through the upper drive
transistor, as shown in Figure 12.
It is this current that causes the large flyback voltage spike
on the output waveform. The peak of the voltage spike can
be found by taking the current going through the output at
the time of the power limit multiplied by the 0.45Ω emitter
resistor and adding it to the zener-diode combination. In
Figure 10 this would be (2A)(0.45Ω) + 8V which is approxi-
mately 9V, as shown by the cursors. For the lower output
stage, the clamping voltage is controlled by an intrinsic diode
that replaces costly output clamping diodes.
In Figure 14, when the current reaches close to zero, the
voltage at the output tends to move towards the output
voltage that it would have been if the power limit had not
been reached. This is typical for all overvoltage occurrences.
It should be noted that when the overvoltage fault occurs, the
device is no longer functioning in the closed-loop mode.
In Figure 15, one waveform is actually a sinewave with
SPiKe protection enabled, as in Figure 5, Figure 6 and
Figure 7 with the same overvoltage spikes as in Figure 14
and the other waveform is the output current. In the middle of
the response, the current is rising toward 6A when SPiKe is
enabled, causing a “bite” to be taken out of the sinewave.
The device is just trying to limit the output current at this
point, as explained in the SPiKe Protection section. The
overvoltage flyback spike then occurs while the output cur-
rent discharges to zero. However, this time when the current
AN-898
Overvoltage—Output Voltage
Clamping (Continued)
reaches zero, the current and voltage must make up for what
it had lost and try to return to its position on the amplified
input waveform. The voltage jumps up to its value, but the
current must slowly and continuously charge up to its place
on the current waveform, then continue downward as the
lower output stage starts sinking current. It must be remem-
bered that the current waveform would have been a sin-
ewave if the SOA power limit hadn’t been reached.
01186906
FIGURE 14. Overvoltage Exceeding Clamping Level
01186907
FIGURE 15. Reaching the SOA Power Limit,
f = 100 Hz, SPiKe Enabled
Multiple SOA power limits on the output waveform are the
difference between Figure 15 and Figure 16. Figure 16 is
intended to show that multiple SOA power limits can occur
under extreme loading conditions. The amplifier is trying to
drive a 70 Hz sinewave into a 7.5 mH inductor in series with
a 2Ω resistor. As the signal frequency decreases, with a low
resistance load, the number of SOA power limits will in-
crease. The frequency of reaching power limits will depend
upon the size of the reactance as the load.
Figure 17 is intended to exemplify the large current overdrive
that can occur when the output waveform is driven hard into
the rails. Notice that the current is over 6Apk for each voltage
swing.
It must be remembered that it is the large voltage across the
output drive transistors that would normally exceed a dis-
crete output transistor’s breakdown voltage. A discrete
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power transistor that is not protected with output clamping
diodes would be destroyed if its breakdown voltage was
exceeded. SPiKe protected audio amplifiers clearly show the
ability to withstand overvoltages created by low impedance
loads.
The integration of output overvoltage protection within mono-
lithic audio amplifiers provides the advantage of eliminating
expensive fast-recovery Schottky diodes that would be used
in a discrete design, thus resulting in fewer external compo-
nents and a lower system cost.
01186908
FIGURE 16. Multiple SOA Power Limits
01186909
FIGURE 17. Output Saturation
Causing Extreme Overvoltage
Undervoltage—Popless
Power-On/Off
SPiKe protected audio amplifiers possess a unique under-
voltage protection circuit that eliminates the annoying and
destructive pops that occur at the output of many amplifiers
during power-up/down. SPiKe’s undervoltage protection was
designed because all DC voltage shifts or “pops” at the
output should be avoided in any audio amplifier design, due
to their destructive capability on a speaker. These pops are
generally a result of the unstable nature of the output as
internal biasing is established while the power supplies are
coming up.
SPiKe Protection accomplishes this by disabling the output,
placing it in a high impedance state, while its biasing is
established. This function is achieved through the disabling
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 AN-898
Undervoltage—Popless Current Limiting—Output Short to
Power-On/Off (Continued) Ground
of all current sources within the device as denoted by control Whether in the lab or inside a consumer’s home, the possi-
signal VC, in Figure 1. For the LM2876, LM3876, and bility of an amplifier output short to ground exists. If current
LM3886, the control signal will not allow the current sources limiting is not provided within the amplifier, the output drive
to function until 1) the total supply voltage, from the positive transistors may be damaged. This means one of two things,
rail to the negative rail, is greater than 14V and 2) the either sending the unit to customer service for repair or if
negative voltage rail exceeds −9V. The LM3875 is undervolt- you’re in the lab, throwing the discrete drive transistor or
age protected with the relative 14V total supply voltage hybrid unit away and replacing it with a new one. SPiKe
condition only. Thus for the “6”-series, the amplifiers will not protected audio amplifiers eliminate this costly,
amplify audio signals until both of these conditions are met. time-consuming hassle by providing current limiting capabil-
It is this −9V protection that causes the undervoltage protec- ity internally.
tion scheme to disable the output up to 18V between the This also means that the multiple components required to
positive and negative rail, assuming that both supply rails provide current limiting capability in a discrete design are
come up simultaneously. This can be seen in Figure 18. The eliminated with the monolithic audio amplifier solution, once
−9V undervoltage protection is ground referenced to elimi- again, reducing the system size and cost.
nate the possibility of large voltage spikes, that occur on the The value of the current limit will vary for each particular
supplies, which may enable the relative 14V undervoltage audio amplifier and its output drive capability. Please refer to
protection momentarily. each amplifier’s datasheet Electrical Characteristics section
It should be noted that the isolation from the input to the for particular current limits.
output, when the output is in its high-impedance state, is As can be seen in Figure 21, the value of current limiting for
dependent upon the interaction of external components and the LM3876 is typically 6 Apk when VCC = ± 35V and RL =
traces on the circuit board. 1Ω. From the scope cursors at the top of the waveform ILIMIT
As can be seen in Figure 18 and Figure 19, the transition = Vo/RL. This test was performed with a closed-loop gain of
from ground to ± VCC and from ± VCC to ground upon 20 and an input signal of 2V (tw = 10 ms).
power-on/off is smooth and free of “pops”. It can also be
seen from the magnification of Figure 18 in Figure 20, that
the amplifier doesn’t start amplifying the input signal until the
supplies reach ± 9V. It is also evident that there is no
feedthrough from 0V to ± 9V. It must be noted that the
sinewave being amplified is clipped initially as the supplies
are coming up, but after the supplies are at their full values,
the output sinewave is actually below the clipping level of the
amplifier.
It should also be noted that the waveforms were obtained
with the mute pin of the LM3876 sourcing 0.5 mA, its 0 dB
attenuation level. If the mute pin is sourcing less than
0.5 mA, the nonlinear attenuation curve may induce cross-
over distortion or signal clipping. The Mute Attenuation
curves vs. Mute Current in the datasheets of the LM2876,
01186910
LM3876, and LM3886 show this nonlinear characteristic.
The LM3875 is the sister part to the LM3876 and does not
have a mute function. FIGURE 18. Output Waveform Resulting
from Power-On Undervoltage Protection
For optimum performance, the mute function should be ei-
ther enabled or disabled upon power-up/down. Although the
undervoltage protection circuitry is not dependent upon the
mute pin and its external components, the mute function can
be used in conjunction with the undervoltage function to
provide a longer turn-on delay. It should be noted that the
mute function is also popless. Of the multiple ways to set the
mute current and utilize the mute function, the use of a
regulator can continuously control the amount of current out
of the mute pin. This regulation concept keeps the attenua-
tion level from dropping below 0 dB when the supply is
sagging. More information about mute circuit configurations
will be provided later in a future application note.
The advantages of undervoltage protection in SPiKe pro-
tected audio amplifers are that no pops occur at the output
upon power-up/down. Customers can also be assured that 01186911
their speakers are protected against DC voltage spikes
when the amplifier is turned on or off.
FIGURE 19. Output Waveform Resulting
from Power-Off Undervoltage Protection

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AN-898
Current Limiting—Output Short to The internal current limiting circuitry functions by monitoring
the output drive transistor current. The sensing of an in-
Ground (Continued) crease in this current signals the circuitry to pull away drive
current from the base of the output drive transistor as shown
in Figure 1. The harder the input tries to drive the output, the
more current is pulled away from the output drive transistor,
thus internally limiting the output current.
Another point worth mentioning is that with increasing supply
voltages, the turn-on point of SPiKe protection, when in
current limiting, will decrease. Since the internal power dis-
sipation is greater, it will take a shorter amount of time before
the temperature of the output drive transistor increases to
the SOA limit.
Once again, SPiKe protected audio amplifiers save design
time and external component count by integrating system
solutions within the IC, translating into more cost reduction.

01186912
Current Limiting—Output Short to
Supply
FIGURE 20. Output Waveform Resulting One feature of SPiKe Protection which can prevent costly
from Power-Off Undervoltage Protection mistakes from occurring in the lab when prototyping Over-
ture audio amplifiers is its protection from output shorts to
the supply rails. The device is protected from momentary
shorts from the output to either supply rail by limiting the
current flow through the output transistors.
Although accidents such as this one occur infrequently, ac-
cidents do happen and if one were to happen with Overture
audio amplifiers they would be protected for a limited amount
of time. Normally when an accident like this would occur in a
discrete design with no current limiting protection, the output
transistor would be subjected to the full output swing plus a
large current draw from the supply. This type of stress would
destroy an output stage discrete transistor whereas with
SPiKe protected amplifiers, the current is internally limited,
thus preventing its output transistors from being destroyed.
One note to make about this protection scheme is that the
01186913
current limitation is not sustained indefinitely. In essence, the
output shorts to either supply rail should not be sustained for
FIGURE 21. LM3876 Typical Current Limiting any period of time greater than a few seconds. Frequent
with SPiKe Protection ON temporary shorts from the output to either supply rail will be
protected, however, continued testing of the circuitry in this
Notice that the initial current limit is at its peak value of
manner is not guaranteed and is likely to cause degradation
approximately 6A, but as time increases, the final current
to the functionality and long-term reliability of the device.
limit decreases. This is due to the enabling of the instanta-
neous temperature limiting circuitry or SPiKe protection.
When the IC is in current limiting, the temperature of the
output drive transistor array increases to its limit of 250˚C, at
which time SPiKe protection is enabled, reducing the
amount of output drive current. It is this further reduction of
its drive current that prevents the output drive transistor from
exceeding the safe operating area.
As shown in Figure 22, Figure 23 and Figure 24 as the input
pulses’ time increases, the level of SPiKe protection im-
posed on the waveform increases. It should be noted that
SPiKe protection was enabled after 200 µs of current limiting
in Figure 23 and Figure 24, but is in general dependent upon
the case temperature, the transistor operating current and
voltage, and its power dissipation versus time.
01186916

FIGURE 22. tw = 100 µs, tSPiKe (Not Enabled)

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 AN-898
Current Limiting—Output Short to Thermal Shutdown—Continuous
Supply (Continued) Temperature Rise
An audio system designer’s design cycle time is reduced by
eliminating the need for designing tricky thermal matching
between discrete output transistors and their biasing coun-
terparts which are physically located some distance from
each other. Complex thermal sensing and control circuitry
provided from the legendary Bob Widlar, and the ability of
integrating it onto a monolithic amplifier, eliminates the ex-
ternal circuitry and long design time required in a discrete
amplifier design.
SPiKe protected audio amplifiers are safeguarded from
Thermal runaway, an area of concern for any
complementary-symmetry amplifier. Thermal runaway is an
excessive amount of heating and power dissipation of the
output transistor from an increased collector current caused
by the two complementary transistors not having the same
01186915
characteristics or from an uncompensated VBE being re-
duced by high temperatures.
FIGURE 23. tw = 1 ms, tSPiKe = 200 µs
If proper heatsinking is not utilized, the die will heat up due to
the poor dissipation of power when the amplifier is being
driven hard for a long period of time. Once the die reaches its
upper temperature limit of approximately 165˚C, the thermal
shutdown protection circuitry is enabled, driving the output to
ground. A pseudo “pop” at the output may occur when this
point is reached, due to the sudden interruption of the flow of
music to the speaker. The device will remain off until the
temperature of the die decreases about 10˚C to its lower
temperature limit of 155˚C. It is at this point that the device
will turn itself on, again amplifying the input signal.
As can be seen in Figure 25 and Figure 26, the junction
temperature vs time graph and the response to the activation
of the thermal shutdown circuitry perform in a Schmitt trigger
fashion, turning the output on and off, thus regulating the
temperature of the die over time when subjected to high
01186914
continuous powers with improper heatsinking.
FIGURE 24. tw = 10 ms, tSPiKe = 195 µs The intention of the protection circuitry is to prevent the
device from being subjected to short-term fault conditions
that result in high power dissipation within the amplifier and
thus transgressing into thermal runaway. If the conditions
that cause the thermal shutdown are not removed, the am-
plifier will perform in this Schmitt trigger fashion indefinitely,
reducing the long-term reliability of the device.
The fairly slow-acting thermal shutdown circuitry is not in-
tended to protect the amplifier against transient safe operat-
ing area violations. SPiKe protection circuitry will perform
this function.

01186917

FIGURE 25. Junction Temperature vs Time

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Audio Amplifiers Utilizing: SPiKe Protection
Thermal Shutdown—Continuous Temperature Rise (Continued)

01186918

FIGURE 26. Thermal Shutdown Waveform

01186919

FIGURE 27. Actual Thermal Shutdown Waveform

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